Two of the main obstacles to the effectiveness and wisdom of our democracy are (a) the time demands of responsible citizenship and (b) the side effects of power, especially corruption. These factors block our capacity to address our public issues well, and they frustrate efforts to elect better lawmakers.

In a democracy we, the people, are stewards of the values in our communities and country. We need to be in charge of seeing that those values govern our collective lives. That’s why we need to talk together about it.

Is it asking too much to ask for wisdom — especially from the public? No, it isn’t. I define wisdom as “the capacity to take into account what needs to be taken into account in order to produce long-term, inclusive benefits.”

For those seeking a healthier, wiser democracy, the question is no longer: Which is better: direct democracy or representative democracy? The more useful questions are: What are the gifts and limitations of both direct and representative democracy? What is the best role they could play together?

The public is not just a bunch of isolated disengaged individuals. It is the people in the sense of Lincoln’s memorable phrase “a government of the people, by the people, for the people.” When I talk about public wisdom I mean that the public has latent wisdom that can be brought out and then spoken by its public voice — the voice of the people. People can and must empower their public wisdom to have real impact in the world.

Welcome to the online version of Empowering Public Wisdom: A Practical Vision of Citizen-Led Politics by Tom Atlee. The full text of the Evolver Editions/NAB book will be serialized here on Reality Sandwich, with each chapter updated to this homepage.

How can we generate public wisdom right at the grassroots, with people creating that capacity in their communities whenever they want to? Can we get at least 80% of the quality of a professionally organized face-to-face citizen deliberative council with far less expense and effort — perhaps with smart use of the Internet?

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